


Good Friends

by WrathoftheStag (Mwuahna)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: A kidnapping, Gen, Happy Ending, It All Turns Out Okay In The End, M/M, Takes place in Russia, Tater being Tater, a goofy little ficlet, but it's not traumatic, kidnappers with a heart of gold, low key fluff, tater as a child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 18:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17813594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mwuahna/pseuds/WrathoftheStag
Summary: Tater recalls the time he was kidnapped as a boy in Russia, and how he made two good friends.  A ficlet about starting over and unexpected chances.





	Good Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ofcomingforthbyday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofcomingforthbyday/gifts).



> CW for a kidnapping, but it's not violent, I promise. Tater is just put in a trunk briefly, and everything ends up fine. 
> 
> For [ofcomingforthbyday](https://archiveofourown.org/comments/208519259) who had wanted to read about Tater's kidnapping mentioned in Chapter 8 of [My Big Fat Southern Wedding](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17342126/chapters/40801700).

Alyosha pushed through the crowd of boys exiting the rink. He high-fived Eugene, playfully shoved Pyotr and then began to run. He ran for two blocks, the last bit of nervous energy being eaten up and then he slowed to a leisurely skip and began to whistle as he made his way home. 

He swung his hockey bag around, jumped over cracks on the sidewalk and happily thought about the pirozhki his _babulya_ was making for him and picked up the pace. A stray dog sidled up next to him, and Alyosha waved at it.

“My babulya is cooking! Pirozhki! I wish you could come along,” 10-year-old Alyosha sing-songed.

His routine was the same, school, hockey practice, and Babulya’s pirozhki on Fridays. Mama would come home after her last student was finished, usually by 5:00, and then Papa would come home from coaching at 6:00. 

Alyosha was so caught up in his food dreams, he hadn’t noticed the janky old SUV that pulled up next to him.

“Boy, do you know the time?” the driver asked.

“I’m a boy, why would I have a watch?” Alyosha answered with a shrug.

“Mashkov?” he said.

Alyosha stopped, feeling a swoop in his stomach.

“Yes? Is something wrong with Babulya?”

Just then a man jumped out of the passenger seat and grabbed Alyosha, who instantly began to thrash about and shout. The man clamped his hand over Alyosha’s mouth and shoved him into the trunk, slamming it shut with a huff.

“That little shit was stronger than he looked.”

The SUV pulled away leaving Alyosha’s hockey bag on the sidewalk; the stray dog whined next to it.

**+++**

Sergei and Ivan looked at each other nervously as they drove quickly down the street.

“Try not to get into an accident,” Ivan muttered as Sergei swerved out of a truck's way. “That’s all we need, for the Mashkov brat to get hurt before we can even ask for ransom.”

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Sergei cried out. “Kidnapping a boy? This is who we’ve become?”

“Don’t get soft on me now,” Ivan countered. “It’s done. It’s not like we can just pull over, drop him off and say sorry.”

Sergei nodded and nervously lit a cigarette. 

When they finally arrived at their hideout, they pulled into the old garage. They sat in the parked SUV in silence until Ivan spoke.

“Nothing has changed. We’ll call his father, demand the ransom and then we head to Norway and never have to come back here again.”

“Right. Yes,” Sergei replied as he crushed the cigarette in the car’s ashtray.

“In the meantime, we take the brat, blindfold him, and keep him in the empty room until we get the money. He’ll be so scared, he’ll be easy to handle, I’m sure.”

Sergei nodded again and said, “Well, let’s meet the little prince.”

They exited the car and walked toward the trunk. Ivan unlocked it, ready to pull Alyosha out and was instead met with a hard, unexpected kick to the face. He fell back partially due to the surprise, and partially to pain.

“Shit!” Sergei called out as Alyosha jumped out of the trunk, and began to run.

“Get him!”

Alyosha ducked behind a workbench and began flinging wrenches and hammers at the men.

“What are you doing?” Sergei called out as he ducked.

“What are YOU doing?” Alyosha called as he threw a screwdriver that beaned Ivan right in the head. “иди к черту!”

“Goddamn it!”

All three remained silent and looked at one another. Alyosha stood behind the workbench and finally spoke.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“It really hurts." Ivan rubbed his head. "You are one problematic little shit, you know that?”

“Sorry…” Alyosha replied. “So, uh, why am I here?”

Ivan and Sergei exchanged glances expecting the other to speak first. 

Sergei finally cleared his throat and said, “It’s like this, Misha… Your papa is a rich man, and we need money so we can get out of here. We’ll call him, tell him we have you, he gives us the money, boom! Off to Kirkenes we go.”

“Jesus, Sergei, you just told him where we were going!”

Alyosha took in what the men said.

“Oh, I see…” he said and then hopped onto the bench and swung his feet. “But who is Misha?”

“Pardon me, your grace—do you prefer to be called Mikhail?” Ivan snorted as he rolled his eyes.

“Who’s Mikhail?” Alyosha asked.

The two men looked at each other again.

“You,” Sergei replied.

“Me?”

“Yes, you!”

Alyosha laughed. “No, I’m not. I’m Alexei Ilya Mashkov. And my family is okay, but I really don’t think we’re rich at all.”

Ivan marched up to Alyosha.

“Who is your father?” he asked sternly as he grabbed him by the jacket.

Alyosha shoved Ivan’s hand away. “Nikolay Mashkov.”

“Nikolay Mashkov?” Sergei said.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ivan shouted.

Alyosha smirked, “We’re not allowed to say that word at home.”

“We kidnapped the wrong goddamn kid,” Ivan bellowed, as Sergei frowned. 

“But Pavel said he was the kid. That he was Vladislav Mashkov’s kid.”

“Vladislav Mashkov? The action star?” Alyosha asked as he started to laugh again. “You never thought to think, ‘Why does Vladislav Mashov live in such a dumpy part of town?'” He then began to roar with laughter.

Ivan and Sergei stood looking incredibly sheepish until Sergei finally spoke.

“Are you hungry, kid?”

“Always!” he replied.

“Do you want some sushki and tea?”

“What?” Ivan asked. “We’re going to feed him?” 

“Well, what else are we going to do? We have to figure out our next move.”

Alyosha was already walking out the side door, presumably looking for the sushki, as Sergei followed behind him and Ivan sighed.

Two cups of tea later, Alyosha had shared his entire life story with Sergei and Ivan, quickly winning them over.

“I thought maybe I’ll figure skate, but then Papa said I had too much energy that would be better for the hockey rink.” Alyosha helped himself to another sweet. “These are really good pastries. Did you make these?” 

“I did,” Sergei said.

“He’s the best goddamn baker in this town,” Ivan said fondly. “And don’t let anyone else tell you differently.”

Sergei beamed. 

“So… it’s been a couple hours and I’m sure my babulya is wondering where I am,” Alyosha said as he wiped crumbs off his face. “Can I go home now?”

Ivan looked at Sergei and shook his head.

“Ivan…” Sergei pleaded. “I think this is a sign.”

“It’s a sign you’re no good at kidnapping,” Alyosha added. 

“Alyosha was sent our way as a blessing, as a sign that we shouldn’t do this. This isn’t us.”

Ivan wrung his hands together.

“Why do you need to go to wherever you said you were going?” Alyosha asked Ivan.

Ivan sighed again as Sergei interceded. 

“It’s a grown-up thing. Ivan and I are… good friends. Best friends, but there are people here who don’t think we should be friends.”

“That’s silly. You should be friends with anyone you want.” 

Sergei looked at Ivan and smiled softly. “And we want to start a new life where people don’t care.”

Alyosha studied them briefly and nodded.

“I understand. My Mama has a lot of friends that are good friends. Look, just take me back where you found me, and I promise I won’t say a word.”

“Ivan,” Sergei said softly.

Ivan lit another cigarette and looked at Alyosha. He then offered him a gruff smile.

“You, kid, are going to go places,” Ivan said as a plume of smoke exited his nostrils.

**+**

“Okay, so you promised you wouldn’t kidnap anyone, right?” Alyosha said as they turned onto the street where they took him from.

Ivan shrugged. 

“Yes, we did,” he grumbled.

“Super!” Alyosha called out. “Look! There! My bag is still there.”

The SUV pulled over and Alyosha jumped out of the car and closed the door.

“Alyosha, don’t forget this,” Sergei called as he handed him a kitchen towel filled with vatrushka.

“Oh, yes! Thank you,” Alyosha said. He walked over and picked up his equipment bag which had been shoved near an old bush. He flung it over his shoulder and held the towel close to his chest.

“Bye, Alyosha,” Sergei said. “Thank you.”

Ivan waved and smiled in spite of himself as they drove away.

It was about a year later that Alyosha was at home sick and sitting with his Babuyla who watched some cooking competition that she loved to see in the afternoons.

He was sprawled on the couch reading a comic, when he happened to look up and saw Sergei on the television.

_”And the winner of this season’s Master Bake Russia is Sergei Petrov!”_

Alyosha sat up and gawked at the television.

“I like that boy!” Babuyla said as she pointed at the screen. "I’m so glad he won, he’s a good baker."

Alyosha smiled as he watched Sergei jump up and down in celebration.

**+++**

“And that’s how I became friends with my kidnappers,” Tater said and took another sip of tea. 

Bitty and Jack looked at Tater with mouths opened and eyes wide.

“Turns out, Ivan and Sergei saw me on television playing hockey. They contacted me with Facebook and we became good friends. They have a bakery in Norway and live there for many years,” Tater said with a smile.

“Well… that was really something,” Bitty finally said as Jack nodded, the two grinning ear-to-ear.

“Absolutely,” Jack said.

“Right?” Tater said with an easy smile. “Anyways, more pie, B?”

**Author's Note:**

> Come and say [hi on Tumblr](http://wrathofthestag.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> And I also participated in this year's Bitty's Valentines [with this fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17748029). :)
> 
> иди к черту! = Go to hell!
> 
> Babulya = Granny
> 
> All OMGCP characters belong to Ngozi Ukazu.


End file.
